Is the armband wooden and if so does that mean it is a replacement?
Original Thorens boards are black painted wood. I suspect Mike’s is an original. SME made perspex armboards, though the wood sounds better to my ears.
Looks really nice aside from the engraving and wrong headshell (both are actually fixable should you wish!). Which sub-platter does it have? How is it structurally, e.g. have you dared take a look inside the motor yet? What is the wire thing on the armboard? The Tandberg receiver and Akai are nice too, a cool little system of its era. Any idea what speakers it had?
PS Mine is very late at 92683. I suspect one of the last.
Viscosity of a 20w oil seems to be around 5.6cst (100c), is there nothing of similar spec more readily available here? I suspect it isn't anything earth shatteringly complex.
Any of the TD-124 owners here got a good specific (and available!) recommendation for motor oil for the E50? I’m getting to the point where I want to strip my motor down for another service and I’ve not found ‘the one’ yet. The original Thorens recommendation was for Castrol Regal oil, which as I understand it was a 20wt turbine oil. Unfortunately it is no longer available.
I’ve never been happy with the oils I’ve used to date. The Schopper stuff is very light and gives a very long motor spin-down time, but the deck starts running fast and slows down after it has warmed up. It also seems to evaporate/vacate the top bearing rather faster than I’d like. Last time I rebuilt it I used some stuff designed for sintered bearings in open-reel recorders, but that seems a bit too heavy and the deck now starts slow and only hits speed once it’s warm. What I really want is an exact match with the original Thorens spec rather than endlessly guessing the audiophile third-party market. None of the 3rd party suppliers state a weight or oil type so its just a wild guess.
I notice from reading around some of the USA sites recommend 3-In-One Motor Oil (the stuff in the sky blue can, not the usual 3-In-One), which is a 20 weight oil specifically designed for electric motors and sounds ideal, but it just doesn’t seem to exist anywhere in the UK. It would cost about £30 to get a $3.99 can into the UK from eBay, which is a bit extreme! I’m wondering if anyone has a specific recommendation for a nice 20 wt. oil that is perfectly safe for sintered bronze bushings and is available in the UK?
Many thanks. Any recommendations for specific iso 46 & iso 220 oils, e.g. brand & type name? I have to admit I just don’t understand enough about oil formulations to know if that is the only spec one needs. It looks like iso 46 can for instance be a hydraulic oil, and that confuses the hell out of me.
As to the E50 bushings I’ve got what I think are very decent condition originals and the Audio Silente replacements. The latter are in the deck at present, though as Mike’s blue belt has proven a bit of a game changer I’m tempted to go back to the original ones for another assessment. I certainly had a longer unloaded spin-down time with them, and my noise issues were always the belt, not the motor. I’ve got the original bushings soaking in isopropyl alcohol at present. I’ll leave them soaking and then vacuum-load them with whatever iso 46 oil I end up with before commencing the rebuild.
Hi,
Just to add my 2 penn'orth, following much reading on 'Lenco Heaven', I concluded that I needed a 20wt oil for use in the 'sintered bronze' bushings of my G99 & PTP6. However, lacking any knowledge of lubricating oils, I contacted 'Morris Lubricants' and had a reply from a 'Technical Advisor' who recommended one of their products, but given that the minimum quantity available was 5 litres, very helpfully suggested that I looked for a smaller quantity of ISO 46 'hydraulic' oil.
Similarly, I found the link to 'Lube Finder' and ordered Mobil DTE 46, which I have been using in both bearings. I hadn't noticed that it was recommended for use in TD124's. This means when I finally get around to re-assembling the bearing and motor on mine, I shall use that rather than the small expensive bottle I purchased from 'Schopper' or the now ancient but unopened vial of 'ROB' oil contained in the 'Lubication Kit' which I obtained from 'Metrosound' in the '70's
Regards
Mike K.
Just a bit of a heads-up folks....
I recently ordered a few bits from Audio Silente via email. A new idler, a bearing cap and a new speed selector decal/plate.
Carriage wasn't cheap at 22.13 (Euros) and then today I got a bill from Fedex for £38.05 for duty and other charges.
So just factor that in when ordering.
Oh how I love Brexit.